European Kingdoms

Eastern Europe

Prussia

The Prussians were Western Balts who were closely related to the Eastern
Balt tribes of Lithuania
and many of those in Latvia.
Baltic people have lived around the shores of Mare Suebicum, the Baltic Sea,
and as far east as Moscow for several thousand years, arriving as
Indo-European
proto-Baltic peoples around 3000-2500 BC. They initially formed part of a
general westwards migration of Indo-Europeans until splitting off around
that time. They further divided from the closely-related Slavic group around
2500 BC and went on to form the ancestors of the Latvians, Lithuanians and
Old Prussians.

The Old Prussians were also neighboured by the
Venedi in the last
few centuries BC and perhaps AD. Various tribes made up the peoples of
Prussia, including (from east to west) the Skalvs, the Nadruvs or Nadruvians,
the Sambians, the
Natangians (all now within Kaliningrad),
the Warmians, the Bartians (all but the
northern area of each is now in
Poland), the Galindians,
the Sasna, the
Pogesanians, the
Lubavians, and the
Pomesanians (all now completely within Poland), with the Yatvyags
further to the south and east.

The Skalvs and Yatvyags were almost completely annihilated by the
Teutonic Knights
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and uninhabited areas appeared
on the borderlands between the Order and Lithuania. The Zembs were another
group of ancient Prussians, but parts of Zhemait territory such as Zhasino
later became part of Lithuania. Kulmerland was a south-western tip of Prussian
territory which was encircled by the River Vistula to the west and the Drewenz
to the east. This later became the bishopric of
Culm. The Bartians are
remembered in the name of the modern city of Bartoszyce.

To all intents and purposes the Prussians were destroyed as a recognisable
people by the Teutonic Knights, although some survived by crossing the
eastern border and merging with the Lithuanians. By the seventeenth century,
East Prussia was an entirely
Germanic state, while West Prussia remained a Polish possession until
1772.

(Additional information from The History of the Baltic Countries,
various authors, from Królestwo rowerowe Warmia i okolice (Cycling
Kingdom, Warmia and Surroundings), Green Velo tourist publication,
2015, from The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders
from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David W Anthony,
from Eric's Chronicle, and from the 15th Yearbook of the
Estonian Learned Society in Sweden, 2010-2014 (Eesti Teadusliku
Seltsi Rootsis aastaraamat XV. 2010-2014), Ants Anderson (Ed,
Stockholm, 2015).)

9000s BC

By this date,
Estonia,
Finland,
Latvia,
Lithuania, and Prussia are
settled by proto-Baltic hunter-gather tribes which all share the same cultural
traces. They belong to two groups, one being the regionally-dominant Baltic Kunda
culture, which is a development of the earlier Swiderian culture which itself is
located on the eastern edges of the later Prussian territory. The other is the
Magdalen-Ahrensburg culture located in north-western Germany and Denmark, which
probably enriches the Kunda culture.

Traditional scholarly belief has these hunter-gatherers migrating from the
southern Baltics and further east, but a more recent idea suggests that while
this is correct for the Baltics, Finland and northern Scandinavia are also
first inhabited via the sweeping grass plains of Doggerland (now under the
North Sea).

Finland is probably the only known location in Scandinavia
with an inter-Glacial Neanderthal settlement which dates to
around 120,000 years ago, while the first anatomically modern
humans arrived around 9000 BC at the end of the last ice age,
as shown in the map above (click on map to view full sized)

c.8200 BC

The
waters of the ice-damned Baltic Ice Lake penetrate the region of the
Billingen Mountains to form a link with the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, the
Yoldia Sea drops rapidly, by about thirty metres. This retreat is so sudden,
and probably has such a profound effect on the early inhabitants of the
Baltic area, that it is known as the Billingen Catastrophe.

8000 - 7100 BC

The Preboreal period sees the climate become
significantly warmer in the Baltics. Birch and pine forests start to spread,
and elk, bears, beavers, and various species of water birds migrate into the
region from the south.

7100 - 5800 BC

The
Boreal period sees the climate continue to warm and become drier. Pine
forests decrease, allowing deciduous trees to gain a firmer foothold and
become prevalent. The animal population thrives, with red deer, roe deer,
and hares increasing considerably.

5800 - 2800 BC

The
Atlantic period is characterised by a climate that is warmer than that of
the present day. New species migrate into the Baltic region, including
Baltic aurochs and wild boar, which inhabit forests of broad-leaved trees.
Water chestnuts grow in the many lakes, and the bountiful life draws
hunter-gatherers into the area. The warmness fails towards the end of this
period, causing the disappearance of aurochs, wild horses, and water
chestnuts.

c.3000 BC

The
Comb Ceramic culture reaches Prussia,
Latvia,
Estonia and
Finland as new peoples
arrive from the east, almost certainly the Finno-Ugric tribes who form the
later core of Finland and Estonia (Estonians, Finns, Livonians, Karelians,
Wots, Weps, and Ingrians). This Neolithic culture seems to form
on the basis of the previous Mesolithic cultures, but uses a greater variety
of bone, antler and stone implements, and employs boring, drilling, and
abrading skills. The Mesolithic Nemunas culture of southern Lithuania is
replaced by the Neolithic Nemunas culture.

The pottery of the Comb Ceramic culture (also known as Pit-Comb
Ware) - a widespread cultural expression of far north-eastern
Europe's foragers between the Baltic Sea and the Ural Mountains
- shows the typical comb imprints that gave the its name

c.2500 BC

The
Corded Ware culture (or Boat Axe culture) arrives in southern
Finland, along the coastal
regions, as well as in Estonia,
Latvia,
Lithuania, Belarus, western
Russia,
Poland, northern Germany,
Denmark, and southern
Sweden.
These new, probably early
Indo-European,
arrivals also have some domesticated animals and bring agriculture
with them, although it continues to exist alongside universally-practised
hunter-gather activities for some time. Both these people form the
proto-Baltic ancestors of the later Latvians and Lithuanians.

7th century AD

In
this century Swedish
forces establish strongholds at Truso and Viskiautias, in the territory of
the Prussians. According to some sagas, Scandinavian kings are likely to
rule over all the countries on the eastern shores of the Baltic, although in
reality this probably means various strongholds and trading centres along
the coastline.

997

St
Adalbert of Prague, sent by the
Pope into Prussian lands
to convert the pagans, is escorted by soldiers granted to him by Boleslaw
I the Brave, duke of Poland.
He refuses to heed warnings to stay away from the sacred oak trees (it is
customary for sacred oaks to be cut down by missionaries to show that
Christianity is stronger than any spirits they are supposed to contain).
Instead, Adalbert is executed for sacrilege. Boleslaw begins a series of
unsuccessful attempts at conquering the Prussians.

fl 999

Widewuto / Waidewut

Semi-legendary chieftain of the Prussians.

fl 999

Bruteno the Priest

1009

The annals of the town of Quedlinburg in
Germany
report the arrival of Saint Brunon, known more normally as Bonifatius, on
missionary work among the Prussians. His attempt ends in failure, and it is
believed he is killed together with his eighteen companions somewhere in the
vicinity of the
Lithuanian
border (the first mention of 'Lithuania' in written sources).

The border lands of Mazovia, which today form over a tenth of
Poland, were hotly contested between the Poles and the Prussians
in the thirteenth century

1147

Boleslaw IV of Poland
attacks the Prussians with the aid of
Russian troops, but is
unable to conquer them.

1187

The
'pagans of the Eastern Sea'
(Estonians
of Saaremaa,
Couronians, and
Zembs of Prussia) conquer Sigtuna, the most important
town of the
Swedes, which they then burn down. The Swedish Eric's Chronicle
of 1335 blames the Finnish Karelians for the attack. More recently,
Professor Kustaa Vilkuna has suggested that the raid is in revenge for
Sigtuna's merchants having intruded upon
Kven fisheries
on the River Kemijoki and the hunting grounds of the Karelians. The medieval
naming of a settlement in the village of Liedakkala by the River Kemijoki as
'Sihtuuna' may be additional confirmation of this.

1209 - 1222

Under the
Polish
Prince Konrad of Mazovia, attempts to conquer the Prussians are intensified, with large battles and crusades
taking place in 1209, 1219, 1220, and
1222.

1226

The
Golden Bull of Rimini is issued by Frederick II, giving the
Teutonic Knights
wide-ranging powers in the name of the
Holy Roman empire in Prussia.

1228 - 1238

Prince Konrad of
Mazovia in
Poland invites the
Teutonic Knights to
settle in the Lower Vistula on the border with the Prussians, who have been
ravaging Mazovia, part of which occasionally includes their region of
Chelmno. Over the following decade, the Prussian lands are
swallowed piecemeal, as the Order uses its successful tactic of building a
stronghold, pacifying the immediate territory, and then advancing to repeat
the process. The dispersed and tiny lands of the Prussian tribes are an easy
conquest.

1241

The conquered and newly baptised Prussians, no
longer able to stand the oppression of the conquerors, rise up but are
defeated by 1249. The Order continues its advance to the north, intent on
forming its own military-religious state
(known as the Ordenstaat) which it governs for the next three hundred years.

1243

The Papal
legate, William of Modena, oversees the creation of the four dioceses of
Culm,
Ermland,
Pomesania, and
Samland within
the recently conquered Prussian territories.

Bishops of ErmlandAD 1243 - 1356

Emland became a diocese within the Prussia of the
Teutonic Knights.
The Papal legate,
William of Modena, oversaw the creation of the diocese in 1243, along
with those of Culm,
Pomesania, and
Samland. It was
a semi-independent ecclesiastical state which fell under the jurisdiction
of the archbishop of
Riga.

During this period, while the native peoples of
Livonia and
Lithuania
were consolidating into recognisable modern peoples, the inhabitants of
Prussia were in a dismal state. Treaties signed between the Prussians
and the Teutonic Knights had not been fulfilled; the Prussians were
forbidden to live in towns, and they were driven out of their native
areas and moved to the eastern districts of the state. Large numbers of
Prussians died and their farms were destroyed during the crusade and the
revolts of 1260-1274. The Knights ordered the colonisation of Prussia by
German peasants
with the result that the few Prussians who survived found themselves
surrounded by Germans and were gradually assimilated. It was only in
Samland that they constituted a majority.

1249 - 1250

Heinrich von Strateich

1250

Heinrich von Strateich is elected to be the first bishop
of Ermland, but he does not take up the office. Instead, his replacement,
Anselm, becomes the first bishop of Ermland to enter the region and perform
the duties of his office.

1250 - 1274

Anselm of Meissen

1252

The
Teutonic
Knights take northern Prussia, with the result that the bishopric of
Samland is
formed there, comprising the Frisches Haff (Vislinskii Zaliv) and Kurisches Haff (Kurskii
Zaliv), with Königsberg serving as the administrative headquarters

1260 - 1274

The Livonian Knights, along with the
Teutonic
Knights, are abandoned by
their
Estonian
and
Couronian
vassals and defeated again, this time severely, at the
Battle of Durbe in
Livonia
by the Samogitians.
As a result, numerous rebellions break out against the Teutonic Knights all
across the Baltics, including a general uprising throughout Prussia.
The Prussians win several battles against the hard-pressed Knights and by
1264 the situation is critical. Reinforcements arrive from
Germany and the Order launches an attack against the rebels led by
Henrich Mantas, with final defeat of the Prussians coming in 1274. Several
uprisings occur in the thirteenth century, but none as serious as this.

fl 1270s

Henrich Mantas

Prussian rebel leader.

1278 - 1300

Henryk / Heinrich Fleming

1283

The Order continues to advance north, and having
conquered the lands of the Skalvs and part of that of the Yatvyags, it
drives the Nadruvians to the River Nemunas in 1283, right on the border with
Lithuania.
The population of these areas is killed off, with only a few managing to
escape across the border.

1290

The bishop of
Courland
re-enters his territory following the successful suppression of the Baltic
rebellions. However, in the same year the cathedral chapter is incorporated
into the territory belonging to the
Teutonic Knights,
resulting in the bishopric being subject to the Order, and many of its
incumbents being members of the Order. The same process has already been
forced upon the dioceses of Prussia, with the exception of Ermland which
maintains its independence.

The position is vacant for over two years. Coincidentally,
perhaps, at the end of this period, in 1337, Duke Otto IV of
Carinthia
founds the Societas Templois Order of knights to play a part in the
suppression of the Prussians and the conquest of the
Lithuanians.

Allenstein (now Olsztyn) was located in the south of Warmia, and
construction on its castle began in 1346, with the later city
growing up around it

1337 - 1349

Hermann von Prag

Herman of Prague.

1341 - 1351

The seat of the bishop of Emland is moved temporarily to
the medieval town of Orneta. The town had only been incorporated in 1313 and
it includes the Gothic parish church of St John the Baptist near the main
square. This is built in the same century and is later expanded in the
fifteenth century. It has a basilica construction that is seldom seen in
Warmia, which means that its main nave is twice the height of the side
naves. Attached to the main nave is a ring of chapels, and the church's
interior is richly decorated, mostly in the Baroque style, but the south
nave also contains medieval paintings.

1350 - 1355

Johannes of Meissen

Prince-Bishops of WarmiaAD 1356 - 1512

In 1356, the bishops of Ermland became imperial prince-bishops under
Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV. The prince-bishopric was, in practice, semi-independent, although
it covered only about a third of the entire diocese. The rest of the diocese
was under the control of the
Teutonic Knights
until 1525 and then the dukes of East
Prussia.

By now, Ermland in its German form was being written as Warmia, a more
Polish Latinised form
of the name.

At the conclusion of the Thirteen Year War,
along with the Teutonic Knights,
the bishopric of Warmia falls under the suzerainty of
Poland and
German prince-bishops are replaced by mostly Polish archbishops, although
the congregation in the northern part of the diocese is still
German.

1467 - 1489

Nicolaus von Tüngen / Mikołaj Tungen

1489 - 1512

Lucas Watzenrode

1512

Warmia becomes an exempt bishopric, removing it from
regional control and placing it under the direct jurisdiction of the
Pope.

1512 - 1523

Fabian of Lossainen

1523 - 1537

Mauritius Ferber

1525

The
Teutonic Knights'
Ordenstaat is secularised and converted to Lutheran Protestantism as the duchy of
East Prussia, although Warmia remains
a catholic archdiocese. In the same year, the reverberations of the Peasants'
War in Germany reach
Prussia.

1537 - 1548

Johannes Dantiscus / Jan Dantyszek

'Father of Polish Diplomacy'.

1549 - 1550

Tiedemann Giese

1551 - 1579

Stanislaus Hosius

1579 - 1589

Martin Kromer

1589 - 1599

Andrew Báthory

1600 - 1604

Piotr Tylicki

1604 - 1621

Szymon Rudnicki

1618

The duke of East
Prussia, Albert Frederick, dies without an heir and the territory is inherited by
the senior Hohenzollern line in
Brandenburg.
Much of Prussia is united to the German electorate.

1621 - 1633

John Albert Vasa

1633

The line of bishops of Warmia continues during the
Swedish period in Prussia.

Swedish PrussiaAD 1626 - 1635

Hostilities between
Poland and
Sweden flared up
in 1617, but this time the reorganised Swedish forces were unstoppable,
taking Riga and pushing into
Lithuanian
and Polish territories. The Treaty of Altmark in 1629 concluded the First
Polish-Swedish War by recognising the Swedish capture of most of Poland's southern
Estonian and
Livonian
territories, with Poland retaining just
Latgallia in the east of
Livonia. Poland was also forced to temporarily cede the port cities of
Braunsberg (Braniewo in Ermland), Elbing (Elblag), Memel (Klaipeda), and
Pillau (Baltiysk). The territory was termed Swedish Prussia, and Swedish
governors-general were appointed to manage it (shown in
red). They became part of the front line during
the Thirty Years' War, which began in 1630, often commanding large swathes
of Sweden's forces outside Scandinavia. The bishops of Warmia continued to
hold their own post, and the list of them continues here from 1635 onwards.

Sweden enters the
Thirty Years' War in summer 1630. As part of the military funding, tolls
and food supplies secured in Swedish Prussia are pivotal assets. The first
major victory of the Protestant forces in the war is at the Battle of
Breitenfeld in September 1631, which ensures that the northern German
Protestant states will not be forced to reconvert to Catholicism. The
forces of Sweden and
Saxony force the Catholic League's line to collapse, and serious
casualty numbers are inflicted on the armies of the
Holy Roman empire,
Hungary
and Croatia.
Tragically for Sweden, the king is killed at the Battle of Lützen on 6
November 1632. Axel Gustafson Oxenstierna, governor-general of Swedish
Prussia, becomes supreme commander of the Swedish troops in Germany and
then regent for the king's daughter, Christina.

The village of Stoczek Klasztorny (also known as Stoczek Warmiński) had
been established in the mid-fourteenth century. Bishop Mikołaj Szyszkowski
now builds a rotunda there as a votive offering for the
Polish victory
in the war against
Sweden. Around this
is built a Sanctuary of the Holy Mary.

The First Partition of
Poland-Lithuania
takes place on 5 August, removing large swathes of the commonwealth from
Polish control. Warmia and parts of Great Poland are taken by
Prussia
(as West Prussia).

1795 - 1803

Karl von Hohenzollern-Hechingen

1803 - 1808

The position is vacant for five years in a period which
sees the kingdom of
Prussia conquered by Napoleonic
France
(1806).

1808 - 1836

Joseph von Hohenzollern-Hechingen

1836 - 1841

Andreas Stanislaus von Hatten

1841 - 1867

Joseph Ambrosius Geritz

1867 - 1885

Philipp Krementz

1886 - 1908

Andreas Thiel

1908 - 1930

Augustinus Bludau

1930 - 1945

Maximilian Kaller

Died 1947 as exiled bishop.

1945 - 1972

The bishop's seat is left vacant following the conclusion
of the Second World War and the expulsion of the
German population
by the Soviet Russian
victors. This expulsion includes the German bishop, with the result that
the position remains vacant in
Poland until a new
Polish diocese is formed in 1972.

1972 - 1978

Józef Drzazga

1979 - 1981

Józef Glemp

1981 - 1988

Jan Władysław Obłąk

1988 - 2006

Edmund Michał Piszcz

Archbishop from 1995.

1995

The diocese is elevated to an archdiocese.

2006 - Present

Wojciech Ziemba

Duchy of East PrussiaAD 1525 - 1618

The
Teutonic Knights' Ordenstaat
was secularised and converted to Lutheran Protestantism in
1525, with the new name of the state,
Prussia, being selected after
the name of the indigenous people. Unfortunately, that indigenous people,
the Prussians, were fast becoming extinct. By the end of the seventeenth
century, Prussian as a spoken language had disappeared completely and the
Prussians as an ethnic group had also disappeared.

Albrecht von Hohenzollern,
margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, was closely related by birth to the
Hohenzollern electors of
Brandenburg,
and for a while the two territories were separately run by these two main branches of the
family. East Prussia remained under the control of first Albrecht and then Albert Frederick of Hohenzollern,
but unification of the two states followed in 1618. The Teutonic Knights,
ousted entirely from power, remained as mere titular
administrators, supported by the
Holy
Roman Emperor who continued to hold a claim on Prussia.

The bishopric of
Samland is dissolved and
the territory is submerged within East Prussia.

1587

The bishopric of
Pomesania is dissolved
and the secularised territory is submerged within East Prussia.

1618 - 1945

Albert
Frederick dies without an heir and the territory is inherited by the senior
Hohenzollern line in
Brandenburg.
The two are united, and East Prussia remains under German control. In 1773
the now totally-Germanised state is reorganised as the province of East
Prussia within the kingdom of
Prussia. Following
the conclusion of the First World War, West Prussia is absorbed by
Poland, but East
Prussia remains an internationally-recognised German enclave until the
end of the Second World War, when it is occupied by the
Soviet Russians.

Modern Kaliningrad (East Prussia)AD 1945 - Present Day

Kaliningrad is an enclave of territory on the eastern Baltic coast which is
sandwiched between Poland
to the south and west, and
Lithuania to the
north and east. It was annexed from
Germany following
the conclusion of the Second World War by the victorious
Soviet Russians and was
turned into a military zone. For seven hundred years before that it had been
a German possession, carved out of the lands of the former pagan
Prussians and other related
tribes by the Teutonic Knights.
Now, the region is administered by Russian governors who are appointed by Moscow.

1945 - 1991

The victorious
Soviet Russians take the northern section of East
Prussia, including the region of
Samland, and annexe it directly to the state. The southern half, which includes
the regions of Culm and
Pomesania go to
Poland. The
German population
either flees or is expelled and is replaced by an imported Russian and Belarusian
population. The capital is renamed from Königsberg to Kaliningrad, and the entire
region remains a closed military zone throughout the Soviet period. Memel
(Klaipeda), to the north, is incorporated into Soviet
Lithuania.

1991

The
Soviet empire collapses,
and neighbouring Poland
and Lithuania become
independent states. Kaliningrad remains directly part of Russia, but the reason
for its existence as a heavily fortified military base of massive proportions
is ended and it becomes an isolated enclave and an almost forgotten backwater
in Europe.

The fourteenth century Königsberg Cathedral was almost
completely destroyed during the Second World War, but was
rebuilt in the early 1990s, while above is a map showing
the modern Nordic borders - Kaliningrad is the unlabelled
green region below Lithuania (click on map to view full
sized)

Lithuania
joining the European Union in 2004 means it is impossible to travel overland between
the Russian enclave in Europe and the rest of
Russia without crossing the territory of at least one EU state.
This causes friction, particularly with Lithuania, over transit regulations.
As an attempt to take its travel needs out of EU hands, Russia inaugurates a
new sea route linking the region with Ust-Luga, near St Petersburg, in 2006.

2005 - Present

Georgiy Boos

Born in Moscow in 1963.

2007

Kaliningrad undergoes a massive economic boom, with a modern airport
terminal being opened in this year.